AutoForm Bidding and Planning Solution
Software Solution for
Rapid Production Sequence Definition with
Tooling and Material Cost Calculation
The calculation of tooling and material costs is currently
performed mostly using personally or commercially developed Microsoft
Excel-based worksheets. This approach requires the user to manually
enter a lot of input data describing the part and/or the tool and
is quite time-consuming and cumbersome. In addition, calculation
results often depend on the subjective assessment of the user and
therefore lack transparency and reproducibility.
In today’s
highly competitive industrial environment, it is imperative to
minimize production cost. The AutoForm Bidding and Planning Solution
with its innovative graphics-based approach speeds up the calculation
process with automatic feature detection and production sequence
definition. It allows users to systematically identify the
cost optimized manufacturing process, while ensuring full cost
transparency and result reproducibility.
The AutoForm Bidding and Planning Solution is an accurate
and easy-to-use software solution for all planning tasks associated
with the production of sheet metal parts. It allows users to define
a production sequence, evaluate part feasibility, determine the
minimum blank and the associated material cost and determine the
tooling cost associated with the chosen production sequence.
The Bidding and Planning Solution targets automotive part
and production planners in early phases of production planning
where most production costs are decided upon. The solution enables
planners to perform cost calculations much faster and, in addition,
to systematically and quickly evaluate multiple, alternative manufacturing
concepts and determine the cost optimized manufacturing process.
It quickly delivers complete, reproducible and usable planning
data.
The AutoForm Bidding and Planning Solution provides the following
benefits:
 |
Increases planning efficiency
by speeding up planning processes and by enabling planners
to quickly evaluate alternative production scenarios. |
|
Allows the rapid identification
of the minimum cost production sequence and saves money on
tooling and production. |
|
Provides a fully transparent
cost structure driven by automatic identification of part
details, allowing identification of tooling cost drivers. |
|
Allows the company-wide standardization
of production sequences, operation and tooling content. |
|
Provides complete transparency
regarding production and tooling decisions and provides reproducible
numbers to back up decisions and requests. |
|
Provides complete reproducibility
of tooling cost calculations. |
The main features of the AutoForm Bidding and Planning Solution
include:
|
Full graphic-based
3D approach using CAD geometry –
no cumbersome spreadsheets.
All operations are graphically represented providing complete
transparency which production sequence or tooling contents form
the basis for the tool cost calculation. |
|
Intelligent production
sequence based on automatic identification of part details.
AutoForm automatically analyzes the part and identifies
part details which have an impact on tooling cost. The
detected part details may easily be checked and augmented.
Additional part details may be added manually with
easy-to-use graphic-supported software features. Each part
detail is automatically associated with a manufacturing
sequence, which may easily be changed or appended using
drag-and-drop icons. |
|
Material cost calculation
with automatic price-based optimization.
Determination of blank prices using area or price-based
optimization methods with material price lists including
surcharges from Microsoft Excel. |
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Push-button solution for tool
cost calculation.
Based on the defined production sequence, the tooling cost
may be calculated with a single click, detailing prices for
each operation and process step including the blanking stage. |
|
Turn-key solution with full
customization of user data.
Full user customization capabilities regarding hourly rates,
tooling material and stock part prices. |
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